Meeting the Dads 04: Fox Mulder
by mmooch
Summary: **Part of 'Who's Your Baby's Daddy' series.** Huh, someone who wasn't thrown by her peculiar story.


**Meeting the Dads: Fox Mulder**

Summary: Huh, someone who wasn't thrown by her peculiar story.

A/N: In response to Challenge 3064: _conception by conspiracy *non-stargate*_ by shelli.

A/N2: Thanks to my betas: zigpal and JediKnight.

Timeline: Takes place after they meet Seeley Booth.

Warning: Non-fuzzy type feelings for Maggie, Riley and the Initiative…duh!!

Rating: FR15 for language and talk of sex, of course, she's _pregnant_ after all.

Pairing: Basically a Buffy/Giles _friendship_. Anything else is up to you, the reviewers – within reason of course.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. X-Files characters belong to Chris Carter and FOX. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

-------------------------------------

**Washington, DC**

"Well Giles, what do you make of that bizarre story the receptionist upstairs told us?" Buffy asked as they made their way to the basement office.

"If those are the kinds of things this Agent Mulder is used to dealing with, you can probably get away with telling him the truth. Aside from you being the Slayer, that is," Giles added in warning.

"That's what I was thinking too. A crazy scientist experimenting to get the ultimate soldier wouldn't that unusual for a guy that handles alien abductions and such. But I'm telling you right now that if he looks like _anyone_ from my life, I'm going home and hiding under my comforter. You and the Scoobies can meet the rest of the dads. Or we can just forget about them altogether." She was still shaken badly by meeting Seeley Booth and his disturbing resemblance to Angel. It was not going to be pleasant when she had to deal with him again. Angel, that is.

The Watcher put his arm around his Slayer's shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze. "Don't worry. If that happens – which I'm sure it won't – we'll figure something out. So, are you ready?"

She gave an unsteady nod and he knocked on the door to the office of the X-Files. They heard a woman call out, "Come in!"

-------------------------------------

Buffy breathed a small sigh of relief that even though the woman was a redhead, she didn't look like Willow otherwise. "We're here to see Agent Fox Mulder."

Scully smiled at the couple. "May I help you? He's out right now but he will be back in a few minutes."

Buffy shook her head, "Actually, it's kind of personal. I'd just as soon wait for him, if you don't mind."

"That's fine. Please, have a seat. Can I get either of you anything while we wait?" the FBI agent offered, pointing to their refreshment area, which included a coffeemaker and electric tea kettle.

"Would you happen to have any decaffeinated tea?" Giles requested.

Scully grabbed the kettle and filled it from the water dispenser. "I think I can find something. Do you have a preference about flavor?"

"Something soothing like peppermint or chamomile would be wonderful. But anything would be fine. Thank you," Buffy responded gratefully.

"That works out perfectly. My favorite tea is peppermint. Is that fine for both of you?" They nodded.

-------------------------------------

Mulder walked in as they just started to enjoy their tea in silence. It was beginning to bother Scully a little that they didn't speak once they introduced themselves. She almost jumped up from her seat when she saw him. "Mulder, you have visitors. Mr. Rupert Giles and--" she started to introduce them.

"The Slayer!" Mulder exclaimed like a groupie at a rock concert.

Buffy instantly sprang into a defensive stance and Giles took a position between the agent and his charge. His expression was pure Ripper. It was almost enough to make Scully reach for her gun.

But Mulder was oblivious to it all. He quickly wiped his palm on his pants and held it out to the wary blonde. "This is such an honor! I never thought that I'd get the chance unless I went to Sunnydale. Believe me, I came close to requesting vacation time so I could go on my own."

He suddenly looked worried. "Oh no, if you're here, does that mean…? Is something big happening in DC? If there is, can I help you somehow?" he rattled off his questions.

Scully couldn't help but stare in disbelief at her partner. Then she glanced at the equally perplexed man and woman. Whatever they had been worried about a moment ago was slowly being replaced in their eyes by amusement at his ramblings. "Uh, Mulder? Care to explain?" she asked.

"This is Buffy Summers, the _Slayer_!" he said – as if it should be obvious to anyone with half a brain. When he noticed it didn't register with his partner, he elaborated, "She fights the creatures of the night: vampires, werewolves…things like that."

"Actually, I try to just lock the werewolves up until they change back," Buffy let out reflexively. Then she caught herself and asked, "How do you know about me?"

Mulder gave Scully a significant look to tell her who the 'sources' were before answering, "A couple sources of mine, who keep tabs on government secrets, sent me some footage of you in action. First where you evaded a capture and contain unit for almost an hour before disarming them in less than a minute," he explained with awe at the memory.

Then his face turned grim. "The second was of a brutal scene of carnage. People were being slaughtered left and right. Then you entered the room with your group…which _you_ were one of them," he said, pointing to Giles. "It was like a switch had been flipped; now the ones who had been killing were the ones _being_ killed. Once that started, hardly any humans died from that point on."

Giles took Buffy's hand in his and covered it with his other one in an effort to console her. He knew she grieved for the ones who died. It didn't matter that some of them were responsible for the mess in the first place. Her next words confirmed that.

"Too many died," Buffy whispered painfully.

Mulder got a look of understanding on his face. "But not because of anything you did or didn't do, Miss Summers. You are the reason that _any_ of them were able to leave that place alive. You _have_ to believe that!"

She smiled wanly at the agent. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." She took a moment to shake off her melancholy.

"Okay, so you obviously have heard about the Initiative." Buffy shared a probing look with Giles and he nodded his approval. "How much do you know about them?" she asked.

Mulder thought momentarily and said, "That their written mission statement was to gather or destroy hostile sub-terrestrials. If they were gathered, it was to be for scientific study to better understand how to fight them." Buffy and Giles sniffed in derision at that. "But the woman in charge, a Professor Maggie Walsh, had a couple projects that she was secretly working on."

He looked at his partner and saw an almost hurt expression in her eyes. He assumed it was because this was the first he had mentioned it to her. "I was trying to figure out how to talk you into going there, Scully. By the time I got the videos, the Initiative was already shut down and all knowledge about it disavowed."

Giles cleared his throat to regain their attention. They needed to get their own information and didn't need to worry about the agents' working relationship. "Do you have any idea of what those projects were, Agent Mulder?" he asked, not sure if he hoped the answer was yes or no.

Mulder gave them a charming grin. "Just Mulder, please. One of them was to 'build' the perfect soldier. I'm not sure how, but it sounded like she was pulling a Frankenstein and piecing it together. As the finishing touch, she opted to power it with uranium."

Scully almost choked on the sip of tea she had taken. "What?!? Was she insane? Didn't she realize how unstable that would be?"

Buffy snorted in dry humor. "Professor _Walsh_ was unstable, Agent Scully," she proclaimed.

"Anyway, my sources said that they saw the 'creature' – which was named Adam – in the complex, but didn't see what happened to it. I assume that your group took care of it?" Mulder looked hopefully at the two on the couch.

"Yeah, Adam's a memory. A nightmare-inducing one, but still a memory," she told them with a mild shudder at the thought of the dreams with the First Slayer that was surfacing.

Scully leaned forward. "What did you do with the uranium?"

Buffy shrugged. "Made it go bye-bye." She noticed the worried expressions on the agents' faces and elaborated, "We won using magick and we used magick to make it disappear.…I'm sorry, I know you have a lot of questions, but I'd like to get to the reason we came, if that's okay?" Scully nodded reluctantly, hoping that they'd get a better answer later.

She turned to the 'daddy' candidate. He was an attractive guy, so at least she wouldn't have to worry about the kid's looks. "Mulder, did you learn what the second project was?"

"Actually…no. That one was buried so deep that the 'Gunmen' couldn't find it. Which is kind of strange," he broke off, concerned that they hadn't been able to do it.

Buffy shrugged off his obvious concern. "It's probably because she didn't keep as good of records on that one. Her other plan for the perfect soldier was to breed one," she said significantly.

Scully's forehead scrunched up in concentration while she quickly processed the clues. "Using the Slayer?" she ventured a guess.

"Uh-huh. Not only am I good for protecting the world, but I'm also the human incubator for breeding experiments," she answered with a sickened grin.

The redheaded doctor couldn't help herself at the pain in the young woman's voice. She walked over and placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. That woman deserves to be locked up for the rest of her life for this," she declared.

"Too late. Her other experiment already ended it. Believe me, when I figured out what she did to me, she got off lucky that Adam only skewered her. I'm not supposed to hurt humans, but I think I'd make an exception for her," she ground out, the Slayer beginning to seep into her body language.

Giles grabbed her roughly and forced her to look at him directly. "No, you wouldn't. You are a Champion, Buffy. That sort of dirty work is for those like me," he told her with a dangerous look and harsh emotions pouring off of him in waves. Instead of it scaring or bothering her, it made her feel safe and she leaned into his embrace.

Mulder still hadn't put all the pieces together himself and so asked, "Did you need help tracking the father down?" Then he had a disturbing thought. "She _did_ use a human, didn't she?"

Scully rolled her eyes at his obtuseness before stating the obvious, "Mulder, I think they _have_ tracked the father down." His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

Buffy spoke up quickly, "Yes and no, actually. You are _one_ of the possible 'donors'. Please don't ask how she got the 'donations' or why she picked those on her list. We don't know and she didn't leave detailed notes behind. All we were able to find out was a list of the names and, in some cases, where we might find them."

Mulder's face brightened. "Can we help you with that?" he pleaded. He really wanted to be able to help them. Not only because he might be her child's father, but also because he thought being of assistance to the Slayer was good for his karma. Plus it would be very cool to share with the 'Gunmen' that he did.

Giles considered the offer, becoming more and more at ease with it as he did. "Actually, that would be most appreciated. Some of the individuals are highly guarded by the government for one reason or another. Since we don't have the necessary clearance to find them, we could use your help to contact--"

"But you two _do_ have security clearance," Mulder interrupted.

Buffy's eyes about shot out of her head. "What?"

He looked sheepish. "Guess they didn't tell you. As part of the cover-up of the Initiative disaster, you two and two others were given a special security clearance by the Joint Chiefs and Homeland Security. That way, if it was necessary, they could request your assistance in the future at any other project they have operating."

Now her eyes narrowed in anger…no, in _rage_. "That's just great! They expect me to be their clean-up girl!"

Giles pulled her back to him. "Shush, darling girl. It's no good upsetting yourself like this. We can deal with that if and when it becomes necessary. For now, it can work to our advantage," he reminded her.

Scully decided to attempt a diversion of sorts. "Do you have the list of possible fathers? Maybe we can find some you couldn't.…Just out of curiosity, what are you hoping to get out of these visits?"

"I want to learn if I should keep the baby or have an abortion. And for me to make that decision, I need to meet the dad in person," she explained.

"But you wouldn't know who he is until it was too late to have an abortion," Scully said with a confused expression.

Giles removed his glasses and polished them while he replied, "Normally yes. However, we're going to use magick to determine paternity once we've finished meeting the men."

"Really? How?" Mulder inquired, looking very much like a little boy in a candy store.

"We'll cast a spell over items that we've gotten from each man. The spell will tell us which one is the father. Then Buffy can make her decision and we'll go from there. If she keeps the baby and thinks the father should be involved in his or her life, we will request a formal paternity test once the baby is born," Giles detailed for them.

Buffy let out a loud yawn just then. "Sorry. The morning sickness and hormones are wreaking havoc on my energy levels. The list is back at the hotel. Could we get it back to you later today?"

Scully thought only for a minute, then offered, "If you'd like, we could meet for dinner tonight and you could bring it with you then." She glanced at Mulder who looked pleased at the suggestion.

Buffy and Giles had their own silent conversation before accepting the invitation and getting up to leave.

-------------------------------------

A/N: Alright. This is longer than I had intended it to be, folks. The dinner isn't really that important so I'm not going to cover it. Whatever Buffy and Giles learn from that meeting will be shared in the necessary oneshots to come. But I am considering either: doing follow up oneshots of the X-Files agents springing up from time to time – or – turning this into a chapter story. Let me know which would be the preferred format please.


End file.
